Trusting your audience: What NAZA could learn from Fauda's latest season – editorial

Two Israeli productions, the fifth season of Fauda and the documentary NAZA, offer contrasting approaches to Israel's post-October 7 reckoning. Fauda, now streaming globally, explores the internal cost of revenge, portraying Israeli operatives with complexity and allowing viewers to question their actions. The series, which was rewritten after October 7, focuses on the pain and lack of closure from vengeance, trusting its audience to form their own judgments.

• In contrast, NAZA, a Venice Prize-winning documentary, presents allegations from anonymous Israeli soldiers about civilian deaths in Gaza.
• The article argues that while these claims deserve examination, the film's framing treats disputed testimony as a final judgment, making it difficult for viewers to assess the sources' credibility.
• The author suggests that Fauda provides a more confident model by embracing complexity and intellectual honesty, allowing for an unsettled and painful exploration of its themes without offering simplistic answers or predetermined verdicts.
• Culture Minister Miki Zohar's threat to revoke the filmmakers' citizenship is criticized as counterproductive, weakening Israel's argument by shifting focus from factual dispute to a loyalty test.